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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29318514">rise with the tides</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurukapologist/pseuds/kurukapologist'>kurukapologist</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: Legend of Korra</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>"romance? idk her", F/F, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Multi, NO idea how old they are it gives me a headache, lin is arospec and confused</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 09:42:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,028</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29318514</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurukapologist/pseuds/kurukapologist</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Lin is going to personally murder whoever came up with the concept of flirting.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Izumi/Kya II (Avatar), Lin Beifong/Izumi, Lin Beifong/Kya II, Lin Beifong/Kya II/Izumi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>46</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>rise with the tides</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><em>Ember Island, </em>Lin thinks, <em>is supposed to help me relax. </em>She shudders. <em>I've never felt more tense.</em></p><p>So much for childhood friends. Bumi is busy trying to drown his brother- no, not drown. <em>You can't drown people in sand, moron. </em>There's a bunch of men trying to flirt with Izumi. (They'll probably stop as soon as she tries to set them on fire. <em>Or as soon as Kya tries to throw them in the ocean, </em>she thinks bitterly.) Suyin is trying to construct a mini throne room and a catapult out of sand, but it keeps crumbling as soon as she stops bending the sand.</p><p>"You could just build that the traditional way!" Bumi yells from the other side of the beach. In a charming and ladylike response, Su sends a (<em>badly formed - </em>I <em>could do much better) </em>sand cloud at him. He and Tenzin start coughing.</p><p>"I could swear," one of their guardians snaps, "that you kids were trying to <em>get along!</em>"</p><p>"I'M NOT A CHILD ANYMORE, MOTHER!"</p><p>From the fact that they sound like they're saying it through gritted teeth, and the fact that Tenzin starts whining at them, Lin guesses it's Katara.</p>
<hr/><p>She's <em>not jealous. </em>The fact that she's spent the last thirty minutes glaring at Kya (who is practically <em>draped </em>over Izumi, like the bitch that she is) means nothing. It's disgusting, anyway. Whoever invented the concept of public displays of affection is going to hell.</p><p>"Hey! Hey, sis!"</p><p>"What do you <em>want, </em>Su? Don't you have better things to do?"</p><p>"But Liiin-"</p><p>"Why do you never shut up? Spirits, Suyin, did nobody ever give you a lesson on learning when to leave people the fuck alone?"</p><p>"Relax," says Kya, swinging away from her girlfriend. "You should go do something to go relieve some stress. Like, I dunno, go swimming with me!"</p><p>She starts at the idea. "With... with you? But-"</p><p>"No buts! See you at 3pm in the ocean."</p><p>"I-"</p><p>Izumi, too, turns round to look at her with The Stare. (It's not nearly as effective without glasses, not that Izumi cares.)</p><p>"Or else!" Kya says brightly, and walks out of the beach hut smirking.</p><p>Bumi laughs.</p><p>
  <em>What the hell did I just get myself into?</em>
</p>
<hr/><p>"Well? I'm here now." She ignores the fact that Bumi and her sister had practically dragged her out here.</p><p>"Yes! Yes, you are." Kya grins at her, actually fucking <em>grins, </em>as if she doesn't know <em>exactly </em>what's she's doing. (For whatever reason, it doesn't occur to her that Kya genuinely has no idea what she's talking about.) "By the way, is there any particular reason you've been so bitter recently, or..."</p><p>"For the last <em>fucking </em>time, Kya! I'm <em>fine!</em>"</p><p>"Lin, you're yelling at me over nothing. Why won't you just swim with me? Don't you like me?"</p><p>Lin flushes at that. <em>Well, yes, but...</em></p><p>"Is this about Izumi."</p><p>She turns away.</p><p>"This is about Izumi? Why didn't you just say that?"</p><p>Silence.</p><p>"Look, c'mon, Lin, at least join me in the water... it might calm you down. You never know."</p><p>"You never know," she echoes, emptily. "Well. If you ins- KYA!" Lin half-laughs, half-screams as Kya drags her into the water. </p><p>"Sometimes," she says, coughing on salt water, "I hate you."</p><p>"You love me really, though."</p><p>
  <em>Yeah. Yeah, I kinda do.</em>
</p>
<hr/><p>"Are you actually enjoying Ember Island, Izumi, or are you planning on spending the next few weeks reading books in your bedroom?"</p><p>"Auntie Azula, I've already been outside at least twice in the past two days!" Izumi says, laughing. "Yes, I've been taking a break, like you insisted."</p><p>"You're incorrigible," Azula says, but it's obviously meant in an affectionate way. That being said, Azula's affection almost always has an underlying sarcastic bite to it. (Izumi's aware she's never found <em>people </em>easy, or at least not adults with any medium of power over her, which to be fair has never been many people.)</p><p>(In short: daddy issues. And mummy issues, because some families just don't know where to stop with the abuse.)</p><p>(And possibly even uncle issues.)</p><p>(Izumi's seen how she talks to Iroh.)</p><p>"I'll take that as a compliment."</p><p>"Now go outside," Azula clasps her hands, "and be a kid." There's an uncomfortable amount of wistfulness and pain in her tone. Izumi wonders if Azula is living vicariously through her niece, as an attempt to make up for all the years lost to Ozai.</p><p>Better late than never.</p>
<hr/><p>By the time Izumi reaches the beach, Kya and Lin have already soaked (read: drowned) each other in water, and are laughing, carefree, any anger or guilt or jealousy forgotten. She sighs, and wouldn't it be nice to go back to when they were kids? When there were no pressures on them, when they were just children and not <em>the future Fire Lord </em>or <em>Master Katara and </em><em>Avatar Aang's daughter </em>or <em>eldest child of the greatest Earthbender who ever lived. </em></p><p>(In all fairness, though, Toph is a <em>damn good </em>earthbender.)</p><p>It's Lin who spots her first, which, given how hostile she is, isn't particularly surprising. On the one hand, her seismic sense can't be great in the water and sand. On the other hand, this <em>is</em> Lin.</p><p>Well. Hostile is a little unfair. More like on edge. Kya notices her about ten seconds later, and there's a gleeful cry of "Izumi!" before she's forcefully dunked in the ocean. Upon this, Lin resumes her usual hobby of frowning.</p><p>Kya doesn't notice.</p><p>"We should do volleyball."</p><p>"But we'd need another player for that, Izumi!"</p><p>The concept of inviting anyone else over here instead of just the three of them is oddly unappealing.</p><p>"You could always sit out-"</p><p>At that Lin sends a surge of sand rushing at Izumi, who just laughs and sidesteps it with a grin.</p><p>"Izumi!"</p><p>"Let me guess, I could at least have the decency to stand still and get knocked over?"</p><p>"Uh. Yes," she says, going red.</p><p>"You blush so easily, honey."</p><p>That, of course, only makes her blush more.</p>
<hr/><p>"Evening!" Suyin yells in her ear, as if her only goal in life is to wind Lin the hell up and ruin everything. Come to think of it, it probably is. (Toph would argue she's being unfair, but then her mother would argue anything for the right price. Or maybe a bottle of alcohol.) From the other end of the shared dining room Lin can make out Bumi's slightly drunken singing (<em>spirits, it's only 7pm) </em>and their parents making small talk. Ugh.</p><p>In all honesty, she wants this holiday to just be <em>over already, why in Agni's name does time travel so slowly? </em>And oh, <em>Agni </em>is a Fire Nation curse, but Lin's never pretended to have an affinity for her mother's kingdom. She might be an Earthbender, but she's a citizen of the world; or at least she wishes she was, so fiercely it burns sometimes. <em>Why can't I just leave? </em>Every day she spends in the vicinity of Toph and Su is a day that could be spent exploring and adventuring. Aang's nomadic lifestyle has never sounded better.</p><p>"Are you... planning on sitting down, Lin?"</p><p>That snaps her out of it. "Oh. Oh, hi, Tenzin." He waves awkwardly, and she's known Tenzin for years but he hasn't changed a bit. Not unyielding, far from it, but... a calm and consistent presence amongst a crowd of rowdy, ever-changing children-slash-adults. (In that, he's more Earth Kingdom than she'll ever be.)</p><p>Tenzin coughs, nods awkwardly, returns to his food.</p><p>
  <em>He probably thinks he's a fucking saint.</em>
</p><p>Gods, she's so done with these people.</p>
<hr/><p>Kya has once again invited her to the beach. "You people," Lin snaps, "will stop at <em>nothing </em>to get my attention."</p><p>"Thanks."</p><p>"It wasn't a compliment."</p><p>Kya sighs, deeply, which would be fine coming from Aang but coming from his daughter is frankly laughable.</p><p>"You have none of your father's, uh, gravitas."</p><p>"And you have none of your mother's presence."</p><p>Lin scoffs. "I've never tried to be my mother."</p><p>"Oh yes you have."</p><p>"I- Kya, where's the evidence?"</p><p>"Painfully oblivious to all romantic endeavours unless people are practically slamming you against a wall and making out with you?"</p><p>"Kya. Kya, what does that fucking mean?"</p><p>"It means Izumi and I have been flirting with you for the last <em>three spirits-damned days </em>and you still haven't noticed!" Kya throws her hands up in semi-mocking despair, and accidentally sends a wave flying into the sand. "Oh- fuck- Lin, I didn't-" </p><p>"I'll be fine." Lin freezes. "Wait, <em>romantic? </em>What?" <em>Flirting? <strong>What?</strong></em></p><p>"Yes! Romantic! And you can't deny you have a crush on Izumi, I don't know about me, but I've seen how you act around h-"</p><p>Before Kya can finish that thought, there are hands in her hair and <em>oh fuck. Oh fuck. So much for wondering if Lin had a crush on her.</em></p><p>"Li- <em>mmf,</em>" she moans into Lin's mouth. "That's- that's good, don't you dare stop-" Kya kisses her back, and it's sort of teeth and sort of tongues but mostly the awkwardness and beauty of first kisses with someone who genuinely loves you and <em>I've been meaning to do this for years why in Yuē's name did I wait so long?</em></p><p>"So you like me?" Lin asks, breaking away.</p><p>"Yeah."</p><p>"...Me too."</p>
<hr/><p>Lin wakes up to the sound of the ocean, as she has for the last four days. ("I rise with the tides," Kya had said, and promptly refused to get out of bed until well after lunchtime, despite various protests and at one point screaming.)</p><p><em>Now <strong>that </strong>is rising with the tides, Kya, </em>she thought smugly. The events of last night kept on replaying in her head - the kissing, the yelling, the getting drenched head to toe in water....</p><p>And of course Izumi.</p><p><em>Spirits, can't that woman leave my brain for at least one day? </em>It's probably telling that she <em>can't </em>stop thinking about the princess, because that's not really a friends thing that's more of a <em>oops so it turns out I'm desperately in love with you, how fascinating </em>thing. She doesn't have nearly the nerve to just tell Izumi that, either.</p><p>
  <em>Yangchen's fucking robes, why is she so pretty?</em>
</p>
<hr/><p>"Lin! How nice to see you there." Izumi's perched on the edge of the beach house with a shit-eating grin that can only mean one thing: chaos.</p><p>"Oh, hi, Princess. Where's your pretty little girlfriend?"</p><p>"Where do you think? Asleep. And from what I've heard, I'm not her only girlfriend." That grin <em>definitely </em>deserves its reputation for preceding chaos.</p><p>"Izumi!"</p><p>Izumi laughs, and extends a hand. "You have nowhere to go, Lin. Come sit with me?"</p><p>
  <em>Come sit with a pretty girl and admire the sunrise? Spirits, yes.</em>
</p><p>"You know, you're a very beautiful woman yourself."</p><p>At that, Lin blushes deeply. "I- Am I? What? You really think so?" <em>Great job, Lin! You just devolved into a stuttering mess at a mere compliment.</em></p><p>
  <em>Maybe Kya was right about having a crush.<br/>
</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Hmph.</em>
</p><p>"Of course I do. You'd probably feel better if you didn't frown all the damn time, as well."</p><p>"Apathy is a lifestyle."</p><p>"You sound like my mother."</p><p>Lin glares at that, even if it is accurate. Sometimes she feels like Mai is far closer in personality to her than her <em>actual </em>mother. Maybe Mai and Toph had some sort of personality transplant when they were having kids. It would certainly explain Lin. "Rude."</p><p>"And don't you know it."</p><p>Izumi is almost unbearably close, now, <em>and for Yangchen's </em><em><b>sake </b>why is it so hard to ask her out. Why.</em></p><p>Fortunately for her, Izumi is thinking along the same lines as her, and gently kisses her, first on the nose and then directly on the mouth and isn't she just beautiful this close. Lin would be quite content to never leave this place, would actually be quite content to strip Izumi of her clothes right here and right now, but it's barely morning and - well, the idea of fucking someone up against a wooden pole is frankly horrible and makes her shudder just to think about.</p><p>...Shoutout to whoever invented beds for being the only sensible horny person in the world.</p>
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